Baku: The International Eurasia Press Fund, the Citizens’ Labor Rights Protection League, the Human Rights Training and Research Public Union, and the ‘Karabakh Missing Families’ Public Union have submitted a joint statement to the 31st session of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, APA reports. The statement highlighted the lack of information in Armenia’s periodic report to the Committee about servicemen and civilians, including women, children, and elderly persons, who were taken prisoner and hostage by Armenian armed forces during the First Karabakh War.
According to Azeri-Press News Agency, the statement revealed that, as of August 1, 2026, 4,010 people have been registered as missing due to Armenia’s military aggression against Azerbaijan. Of these, 4,004 disappeared during the First Karabakh War, while six went missing during the 44-day Second Karabakh War in 2020. The missing include 3,228 servicemen and 782 civilians, among whom 71 were children under 18, 288 were women, and 319 were elderly persons.
The statement underscored evidence and witness testimony indicating that 872 of the missing individuals were taken prisoner and hostage by Armenian armed forces and held in Armenia and formerly occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The document cited the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as providing the most irrefutable information, including lists from 1998 and 2001 showing ICRC employees visited 54 Azerbaijani citizens held in detention during the First Karabakh War. Of these, 17 bodies were returned, 33 were reported dead with no body returned, and no information was given about four individuals.
The statement also referenced the ‘Accounting for Missing Persons in the Republic of Azerbaijan’ report by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in 2024. An ICMP mission in June 2023 held meetings in Azerbaijan and considered exhumation and identification of remains at mass grave sites in liberated territories. The statement criticized Armenia for not providing information about Azerbaijani prisoners and hostages, labeling it a disregard for international norms.
It mentioned that 32 mass grave sites have been discovered in Azerbaijan’s liberated territories, identifying remains of Azerbaijanis once taken prisoner, including children, women, and elderly persons. The document recalled the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s 2024 session urging Armenia to cooperate with the ICRC and Azerbaijan to clarify missing persons’ fates and engage in good faith dialogue for a long-term peace agreement.
The statement also cited the UN Committee against Torture’s concern over prisoners and hostages being killed through torture and ill-treatment, as noted in its 2025 observations. Despite repeated appeals, Armenia has not provided information about the 4,010 missing during the Karabakh Wars. The NGOs urged the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances to demand Armenia disclose the fate and burial sites of missing persons and investigate the cases of 71 children who went missing, including 29 documented hostages.